Band:	Exmortus
Album:	Necrophony
Style:	Technical thrash metal
Release date:	August 2023

01. Masquerade
02. Mask Of Red Death
03. Oathbreaker
04. Mind Of Metal
05. Storm Of Strings
06. Test Of Time
07. Darkest Of Knights
08. Prophecy
09. Children Of The Night
10. Beyond The Grave
11. Overture
12. Necrophony

An Exmortus album with no muscular swordsmen on the cover art?

Granted, there were no muscular swordsmen on 2011's Beyond The Fall Of Time and I find plenty of muscle but no sword on 2008's In Hatred's Flame. Those are definitely not albums to be overlooked, but when I think of Exmortus I think of the heavy/power fitting albums covers of Slave To The Sword, Ride Forth, and The Sound Of Steel, to the point where those retro cover arts eclipse the music itself for me. Like, I like their specific brand of technical neoclassical death thrash as much as the next guy, but the mention of their name and their album titles immediately conjured those cover arts way before even thinking about the music itself. So it might be a bit telling for this record that no such figures appear on this cover art. Following the largest gap between releases, what Exmortus bring us on the cover art is a necromantic orchestra.

I guess it makes sense since the neoclassical part of their sounds always beat the more heavy/power side, so anything that reminded about Yngwie Malmsteen was in the shredding rather than in the pompous power, though there is some of the latter too. To those unfamiliar with the band's music, the core of it is thrash metal that doesn't really sound like most thrash metal. For one, Conan's vocals are so rough and harsh that they seem more in line with death metal at times. The band's technical side takes a lot from the aforementioned neoclassical playing, while also being incredibly melodic, so any tag combination of "technical", "melodic", "death", and "thrash" would be fitting for the band. That's not something that is fundamentally changed for Necrophony.

Things are a bit different this time around, even though things aren't immediately noticeable. The cover art does seem to suggest more emphasis on the classical approach, something that does materialize in tracks like "Storm Of Strings", and also in the fact that the album contains Exmortus' two longest tracks with "Darkest of Knights" and "Children Of The Night" both pushing over seven minutes. The tone is also slightly darker, something echoed in Conan's vocals sounding even harsher, which does make Necrophony feel like it tips the scales closer to death metal, though I'm still not sure if I'd call it a death metal album primarily. It's still the musicianship that is the focal point of the record, even if I do wish there were more moments to let the bass take the center stage, but the album itself feels like it has a more cohesive flow than some of the band's previous releases had.

Necrophony does just enough to tweak some parts of Exmortus' sound without altering its main appeal (besides the sword and sorcery cover arts).